Spinach Soup

I am the lover of all things spinach. Maybe it's from watching too much Popeye as a kid, but I love it! And I know how good it is for me!



I have this amazing friend who I have known for years. I haven't seen her in almost 7, which makes my heart break a little! We talk a lot, though, which is awesome since we went almost 4 without. I'm so glad she's back in my life, I'm actually going to post a horrible picture of us from 7 years ago. This was my 21st birthday:



This was the bar I worked at...she was always there (to visit me, not necessarily drink!) and she was always cheering me on when I sang...



And us being crazy. Something we were awfully good at!



Life with Rissa was always fun. Laughing, reading, tea time, snuggling...I'm a pretty lucky girl to have such a wonderful friend in my life! Exciting news, too: MARISSA HAS DECIDED TO GO VEGETARIAN!!! Yes, it may mean no more eggy cheesy bacon bagels, but I'm still working on how to veganise that one! :) She sent me an email this week with a Spinach Soup recipe from Kitchen Parade. I saw it yesterday and made it immediately. I trust her taste in food and I had the ingredients to make it, so here it is! The veganized version of Spinach Soup:



Spinach Soup
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

1 tbsp Earth Balance Soy Margarine
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
10 ounces frozen or fresh spinach (If you're using fresh, which you should, it's about 5 cups)
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
Salt & pepper taste

1. In a large saucepan, melt Earth Balance on medium high til shimmery. Add onion, stir to coat, let cook until beginning to soften.

2. IF FROZEN SPINACH While the onion cooks, thaw the spinach in the microwave. Add to the onion mixture and cook for about 5 minutes. IF FRESH SPINACH) While the onion cooks, wash the fresh spinach very well by soaking and swishing in cold water. (It needn’t be trimmed but must be grit-free; to test, eat a piece of the raw spinach.) Stir into the onion mixture by the handful and cook until cooked but still bright green. Transfer the mixture to a blender (I used my food processor) and blend until smooth, adding some broth or stock if needed. Return the mixture to the saucepan. (Don’t waste the spinach left in the blender, just use the rest of the broth or stock to rinse it out into the saucepan when called for.)

3. Sprinkle the spinach mixture with the flour and stir in. Add the broth or stock, a tablespoon at a time at first, incorporating each addition before adding more. Stir in nutmeg and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Add milk and bring just to a boil but do not allow to boil. Season to taste. Spoon soup into bowls.



This soup was SOOOO good. I had two bowls, and when Cody got home, he took one bite and said, "Wow, babe. This is good." I don't know why he doubted me, but ha HA! Veggies 1, Carnivores, 0.

Thanks, Marissa! I love you!!! xo

PS: Want to win some awesome Muscle Soak from an awesome SkinnyRunner??? Go check it out!

Drumroll please......

..........................The winner is, RACHEL over at Reaping What I Sow and Life with the Bugs!!! Rachel is someone I met in boot camp.

We looked a little less like this...



And a little more like this...




Regardless, we became Marines together! She has a beautiful family and has started cutting meat out of their diet. Maybe not the husband's...yet...but I know she'll keep pushing! I've seen it firsthand. Congratulations, my dear! Send me an email with your address and I will get these delicious cookies out to you asap!

Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce

If nothing in this blog title makes sense to you, keep reading and expand your horizon (and your tastebuds).

falafel |fəˈläfəl| (also felafel)
noun
a Middle Eastern dish of spiced mashed chickpeas or other pulses formed into balls or fritters and deep-fried, usually eaten with or in pita bread.
ORIGIN from colloquial Egyptian Arabic falāfil, plural of Arabic fulful, filfil ‘pepper.’

tzatziki |tsäˈtsēkē| (also tzatziki sauce)
noun
a sauce of Greek origin, made from yogurt, garlic, and cucumbers.
ORIGIN mid 20th cent.: modern Greek, from Turkish cacık.

Prior to last week, I had never eaten a falafel before. Thanks to the goalie in THIS movie:

...I had heard of them, but never experienced them. So I did a little research, checked out a few different recipes, and decided to throw my own together.

Before we go any further, I would just like to let you know that this is our new favorite. Not just C-Dizzle and mine, but also Dei, the not-so-picky-anymore one. We ate every last morsel and I've already made them again.

*Note: If you're going to be eating these, be prepared for garlic & onion breath for a full 24 hours. Make sure everyone you surround yourself with is also going to be eating falafel. Otherwise, you might seem toxic.



Falafel
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

15-oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp FRESH parsley, chopped
1 tbsp FRESH cilantro, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp olive oil, plus 2 tbsp
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/8-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2-4 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
Salt & pepper, to taste

1. In a large bowl, mash the garbanzo beans with a potato masher or a fork. Getting these as mashed as possible is key! Set aside. In a food processor, mince the onion and garlic cloves till finely minced (for the onion hater in your life!). Add to the mashed garbanzo beans. Add the parsley, cilantro, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, coriander, turmeric, and crushed red pepper. Start out with 2 tbsp of flour. If you need more, add it 1 tbsp at a time. Add the salt & pepper, if using.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, get 2 tbsp of olive oil nice and hot. Form the falafel mix into golf ball size balls, slightly flatten, and add to the pan carefully. Cook until a little darker than golden brown; flip and cook on the other side.

Tzatziki Sauce
Prep time: 5 minutes

2 6-oz containers PLAIN soy yogurt (meaning unsweetened!)
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp FRESH dill, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt & pepper, to taste

1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Assembly

There is no science here! Take a warm flat bread or pita, spread a layer of tzatziki sauce, add lettuce, tomato (the picture is Dei's falafel. We do not consume tomato. Bleck!), whatever else your heart desires, and a little more tzatziki. I served this with tabouli, warm pita slices, and Kale Chips.

Here is the nutritional value for the falafel:



Look at all that protein! These would be great for carbo-loading, too.

And here is the tzatziki sauce:



The serving size here is a bit bigger than what you actually use, so don't be frightened by the calories!

This meal was so light, believe it or not, and very fresh. It's perfect for the upcoming summer weather and I have a feeling I'll be making it a lot! You should, too!

PS: There are still a few days left to enter my Alternative Baking Company Cookie Giveaway! The rules are easy: you just leave comments!

PPS: My mom is going to be here in 24 days! Woo hoo!

Reuben

Who doesn't like a good Reuben sandwich? (I guess if you don't like sauerkraut, pastrami, Thousand Island dressing, or rye bread, you probably don't. Meh.) I love them. They're a little sweet, a little salty, and rye bread is deLISH. C-Dog and I were grocery shopping the other day and I came across a jar of sauerkraut. I put it in our basket and he was like, "We're never going to eat all that sauerkraut. You're crazy. Woh woh woh woh woh woh woh woh." I got it anyway, mostly because I wanted sauerkraut all over my Smart Dog.

(We're halfway through the huge jar. FTW.)

I love Smart Dogs, but I can't eat them everyday. I knew I had to come up with another way to utilize the sauerkraut, mostly just to prove the hubster wrong. That's when I remembered Reubens. When was the last time I had a Reuben??? It had probably been years, considering how long it's been since I've eaten meat. Well, our Reuben-less days are over, my friends!



Thousand Island Dressing
Prep tim: 5 minutes

1/4 cup Vegenaise
1/2 pickle, chopped, or 1/4 cup relish
2 tbsp to 1/4 cup red pepper relish
1/4 tsp garlic powder

(This is the red pepper relish I used; thanks to my amazing sister for sending it to me from home!)



Reuben Sandwich
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes



Seitan slices, or your favorite vegan sandwich meat
Rye bread
Earth Balance
Thousand Island Dressing, recipe above
Sauerkraut

1. I use a panini press for this, so if you have one, plug it in! If you don't, you can toast your bread in the toaster OR cook the sandwich in a large skillet. Butter one side of rye bread slices. Place buttered side down on the panini (or skillet), spread about a tablespoon to two tablespoons on the bread. Throw down a few slices of seitan or vegan sandwich meat, smother with sauerkraut, and top with the other buttered piece of rye bread. Press for 5 minutes or until golden brown. If you're using a skillet, cook on one side till golden brown, flip, and cook some more. If you're using a toaster, DON'T BUTTER YOUR BREAD FIRST, just toast and assemble.



We've had Reubens THREE TIMES since the sauerkraut debate. I pretty much love anything that comes out of my panini press (thanks, C & D!), plus I made a whole seitan love AND we've got all this sauerkraut. Works in my favor!

PS: If you haven't entered my ABC Cookie Giveaway, get on it! I'm giving away some of the best cookies in the world that happen to be vegan.



PPS: HAPPY EARTH DAY! Get out there today and go for a walk, pick up some trash, recycle, plant something, JUST GET OUTSIDE!!!

...Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Who doesn't love cookies?? Let's be honest here, cookies are like gold. They can be brought to special occasions. Made for dessert. Enjoyed for breakfast, if you're really daring. You can add more goodies to them or make them plain. Dunk 'em in (soy)milk. Make them huge for birthday cakes. And if you have a cookie monster husband like me, use them to get what you want. Mwahahaha!



The amazing folks at Alternative Baking Company sent me a few cookies to giveaway. Obviously I split one with Cody, though. He charges a cookie tax to everything AND I couldn't give a cookie away if I hadn't tried it! What if it wasn't good?

They're good, I promise. So good, I almost didn't want to do this giveaway.



Here are your rules!

1. Go to the ABC site and tell me which kind of cookie makes your mouth water.

2. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite cookie is and your favorite time to eat them.

3. Leave a separate comment (more than one comment means more than one chance to win!) letting me know if you're a carnivore, veggie, vegan, raw...whatever you are! :)

4. Am I on your blogroll? Leave another comment!

5. Leave a comment telling me you linked back to this blog on YOUR blog! Make sure to leave a link, too! Shameless plugging is ok! :)

6. Let me know if you share this with your peeps on Facebook. Yes, I just said "peeps".

7. Got Twitter?? Tweet! Let me know (you guessed it, with another comment) that you did.

I'm going to give this one a few days...so let's say on April 25th, I'll go to Random.org and pick the winner. Good luck!

PS: Don't forget to check out my guest blog on Living and Loving in L.A.! Konbanwa, my little fashionista!

Fresh Asparagus Alfredo

I think I might be one of the few crazies out there who doesn't really mind Mondays. I don't work till Tuesday, so I always get a 3-day weekend. Monday's are nice; I can run without worrying about how long I'm taking. The husband is at school, so I have a few hours of me time. I can also run whatever errands I didn't get done over the weekend. Mondays aren't that bad for me!

Speaking of Mondays, have you heard of Meatless Monday? I had never heard of it until my beautiful friend, Erin from Living and Loving in L.A., started posting meatless recipes every Monday. What a great concept, right? The whole thing is to commit to cutting out meat (at least) once a week. Might as well make it Monday since "Meatless Monday" has a great ring to it. "Wingless Wednesday" just doesn't sound the same.

If you don't follow this runner, cook, fashion designer, and great person, you should. Reading her blog is something I do every morning with my cup of coffee. She's that good. Unfortunately, she'll be in Tokyo and Shanghai this week for work (unfortunate for us, not for her), so I stepped up and wrote a Meatless Monday blog for her.


Happy Monday!

This is what I made...and I promise you, it's worth making. It's inexpensive, relatively simple, quick, and can be made gluten free!!! What more could you want?

Stay tuned for my take on the Reuben...

The BEST Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Eat!

I know this blog title is a little cocky, but I'll challenge you to a cake-off. This cake is super-chocolatey, not too sweet, MOIST, and fluffy. What more could you want??

My inspiration for this cake is a girl named Paige. I met Paige 5 years ago in Small Town, Oregon. I was on leave visiting my future husband. Cody & Paige have known each other for what I would assume is forever. She ended up marrying her long-time boyfriend and another small-town friend of his, who is now in the Navy. She randomly emailed Cody last week and let him know that she found my blog via VegWeb and that she, too, is vegan. Small world, even smaller internet! We've been kinda chatting back and forth and she asked about a cake recipe. You guys know me and my cupcakes. I gave her those links, but now it's time for an actual cake. Ask and ye shall receive!



Chocolate Cake
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

*I know this cake calls for a lot of sugar. I don't want comments about how to make it healthier...it's dessert. Sometimes it's ok to go a little crazy. It's still vegan!

1 1/4 cup unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (DARK cocoa if you have it!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Add the water, vanilla, oil, and vinegar; make sure to combine until it's no longer lumpy!

2. Lightly spray an 8x8 baking pan. Add your cake batter, put in the oven, and wait for your house to smell delicious. This will take 30 minutes. :) Cool for at least an hour before frosting.

Speaking of frosting....

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Prep time: 5 minutes

1/4 cup Earth Balance
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (again...dark if you have it!)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp soy milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium bowl, beat together the Earth Balance and shortening. Sift in the cocoa and powdered sugar; add the milk and vanilla and beat for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides as you go.

This is my favorite frosting. It tastes so much like Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Kreme Donut, it excites me.



This cake really doesn't take long at all, plus it's marvelous, so get your cake on! Go!